We are having problems adding files to distribution packages when running the Management Console on a device that is not the Core Server. These issues do not occur when the Management Console is run from the core server.

The issue occurs when we try to to add files to a distribution package. It hangs for a minute or two and then I receive "the operation has timed out" error popup. I am using http Web path and it has worked in the past from a remote management console.

As an example of what I'm doing, Using FQDN (http://asdf.MyCompany.com/packages) doesn't work and I get the time out, however if I shorten it to http://asdf/packages then it does work. In order for distribution to work on our devices, the FQDN must be used here. I have verified that I can access the full path in a web browser (IE) on those servers, but it doesn't seem like the management console can browse to it using FQDN.

I edited your message a tiny bit, just anonymising the company path / name ... this is a publicly accessible forum, so better not to liberate that sort of thing as a matter of course .

So - "in theory", FQDN vs NETBIOS resolution is a network thing, so would point at your DNS vs WINS servers (and I'm mildly concerned that your NETBIOS name is working better ... that doesn't make much sense usually).

Also - "never" use shortnames as a matter of course, due to bad DNS / man-in-the-middle, etc stuff ... it's a recipe for headaches. Using FQDN (and making sure you have good DNS) is "the right way".

Now - in terms of the timeout, you *CAN* try to add a "general" timeout extension to "all things the console does" ... to see if that helps (I suspect that your "actual" fix would be fixing the DNS from the remote consoles though, you may want to work with your network team on that). Note that this isn't a fix, but it'll give you more breathing room.

How do you extend the timeout for a console (be it the Core or remote)? Here's how:

Launch REGEDIT on the device with the console where you want to extend general/all timeouts.

Go to -- HKLM\Software\LANDesk\ManagementSuite\Winconsole\

Create a DWORD of “Query Timeout” (the <SPACE> in between the two words is IMPORTANT)!

You can give the DWORD a value of 3600 (this is in seconds, so that'd be up to 1 hour) ...

... and now (re-)launch the Console.

Again - this isn't meant to fix the issue for you, it's just meant to give you breathing room while you can look into whatever's going on with the networking side there.

Tipps:

Check for web-caching appliances ... those things tend to cause a LOT of problems around packages & software distribution.

Make use of Wireshark to find out "just where" your requests go off to (may involve running Wireshark on multiple points) ... this is a good way to track down how (un-?)reliable your DNS information can be for instance.